Marshall University senior kicker/punter Curtis Head (Shelbyville, KY) was one of 30 players named to the initial 2002 Lou Groza Award Watch List.

Head, who has served as the punter for the Thundering Herd for three seasons, connected on 9-of-10 field goal attempts and 51 of 57 PAT kicks last year in his first season of double duty for Marshall. Head haas averaged 41.9 yards on more than 150 career punts.

Two former winners, two former finalists, and a member of the defending National Champions join Head on the 2002 Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award Preseason Watch List.

The Watch List is comprised of the top 30 preliminary candidates for the 11th Annual Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award, presented by the FedEx Orange Bowl. The award will be given out during a ceremony on Tuesday, December 10, at the Sheraton West Palm Beach Hotel at CityPlace in West Palm Beach, FL.

Among those kickers named to the Lou Groza Award Watch List are last year?s Lou Groza Award winner, Seth Marler of Tulane, and 2000 Groza winner, Jonathan Ruffin of Cincinnati. Auburn?s Damon Duval and Alex Walls of Tennessee both are past finalists who are also on the list. The kickers on some of the top teams in the country are on the Watch List ? Todd Sievers of Miami, Dusty Mangum of Texas, Xavier Beitia of Florida State and Drew Dunning of Washington State. A brief biography of each player on the Lou Groza Award Watch List can be found at www.palmbeachsports.com/Groza.

The kickers on the Lou Groza Award Watch List were chosen based on statistics from the 2001 season and on preseason expectations. However, all Division I-A kickers are eligible for consideration for the award.

A panel of over 300 people made up of Division I-A head coaches, sports writers and sportscasters, conference representatives, professional kickers, and all previous Groza Award finalists votes upon the award.

The 20 semi-finalists for the Lou Groza Award will be announced on November 4, followed two weeks later by the naming of the three Lou Groza Award finalists on November 18.

The award, now in its 11th year, is named for NFL Hall-of-Fame kicker Lou Groza, who played 21 seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Groza won four NFL championships with Cleveland and was named NFL Player of the Year in 1954. Nicknamed ?The Toe,? Groza was one of the first people to truly make kicking an art form, and he helped usher in to football the idea that a player could be used exclusively for kicking.